Pet owners are routinely confronted with the inconvenience of the standard pet collar, which requires a separate, detachable leash for maintaining control of their pet. At times, pet owners may only need to use a leash for short periods of time under certain circumstance, such as when crossing a street or in the park when confronted with an aggressive dog. These situations require quick access to the leash. Also, pet owners may desire to quickly and easily tie the leash to a pole while entering a store. With the standard collar and leash, pet owners must carry the leash separately and may be inconvenienced by the time it takes to attach and detach the leash to the collar.
The time required to gather the leash and attach it to the collar is extremely problematic for pet owners confronted with increasingly stringent leash laws. The ability to quickly leash a pet can save pet owners the hassle and expense of fines for violation of leash laws.
An integrated collar and leash has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,816,198 issued to Peterson and entitled Counterweighted Pet Leash Retracting Collar. Peterson discloses a pet collar with a reflective strip, a leash, a counterweight and a leash retractor. The counterweight is needed to counterbalance the weight of the leash retractor and to ensure that the leash handle always comes to rest on the back of the animal's neck where it is easy for the user to access the leash handle. The extra weight can be cumbersome to the animal.
Another integrated collar and leash has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,581,547 issued to Austin, which eliminates the need for the counterweight. In Austin, the leash feeds through a portion of the collar into a casing that stores the majority of the leash when not in use. The casing holds a coiled spring that is coupled to one end of the leash and provides the retractability. The opposite end of the leash forms a handle and is removably attached to the outside of the collar to provide access. The handle requires use of a fastener to attach the leash to the collar when not in use.
Neither Peterson nor Austin discloses the use of a locking mechanism for quickly securing the leash to an object such as a pole, signpost, or parking meter. Also, both disclose the use of a separate handle that is not integrated into the collar. In the case of Austin, the handle needs to be attached to the collar by a fastener to prevent the collar from hanging loose when not in use. As for Peterson, the handle is in the form of a cylindrical handle, which dangles from the collar when not in use.
An example of a locking leash is disclosed in U.S. Pub. No. 2002/0035968 issued to Prusia et al. and entitled Locking Leash and Collar System. Prusia shows a leash with a pet-securing region and handle region. The leash attaches to the collar in the standard manner.
The present invention provides an improved integrated collar-leash, as well as integrating a locking mechanism into the leash portion of the collar-leash.